Music from Switzerland

Stefan Thut 'Aussen raum' (2008). Manfred Werder '2008(3)' (2008). A field recording near a river divided in two parts.

Material can be anonymous. Consider, for example, the middle voices in medieval hymn books: unadorned, not artful, a simple handiwork, a leisurely alternation of single notes. It might be a scale, or, beyond music, the stones of a wall, not artfully stacked, but simply and properly, the formal idea being nothing other than that of a wall.   When I was working on the String Quartet (1988), I encountered the painting of Agnes Martin. I saw clear-cut forms, not overgrown with rhetoric and figuratio…

2007 release ** Fold in; fold out: the breathing of the accordion. On this CD the accordion unfolds in a very special way, unusually close to the instrument. Four works, four worlds that seem to know each other; refer to each other like a greeting from far away.Hearing John Cage's ,,Cheap Imitation" played on accordion gives you the impression of folk music from an unknown, probably non-existent country. This music comes from nowhere, goes nowhere, is forever on its way.....Like ,,Sam Lazaro Bro…

Time-served, Zurich-based improvisors, Norbert Möslang (Voice Crack) and Jason Kahn reprise their duo with 'Distinctly_Dive', recorded March 1st, 2013 in St. Gallen by Jason Kahn for Poland's Bocian. Skittish percussion, stray shortwave radio and amorphous spectral electronics collide, overlap and react against each other in an almost jazz-wise display of rhythmic fluidity and tonal chaos perfectly suspended and given room in the mix by Möslang.  On the A-side they never quite tear-out but …

An extended voice/ radical vocality album, Songline was recorded during one evening in the rooms of a former Swisscom telephone relay station in Zürich. I decided to use the main room, which was entirely empty. Its linoleum floors, bare walls and many windows made for a very resonant space. Double glass windows sealed off the world outside but many sounds still emanated from somewhere deep in the bowels of the building.My vocal work goes back a few years now, appearing here and there on various…

Grizzana features Swiss composer Jürg Frey at his most introspective, realized by Ensemble Grizzana - Frey (clarinet), Mira Benjamin (violin), Richard Craig (flute), Emma Richards (viola), Philip Thomas (piano), Seth Woods (cello), and Ryoko Akama (organ & electronics). The work, together with companion pieces on the double CD Grizzana and Other Pieces 2009-2014(Another Timbre), marks a deep engagement with sonic transparency, tension, and the delicate equilibrium found in Morandi’s painting. Ea…

Live collaboration recorded at Oslo 10, Basel, Switzerland, 31 May 2014 on side A plus a fully new piece by DP (CH) and CG (Peru) on the flipside, based on their solo live sets performed and recorded the same night. Processed and mixed by DP/CG.High bias C30 chrome cassette with white on-body print, housed in printed cardboard slipcase. "…One side of the next tape is a live recording from Basel, Switzerland of May last year by Dave Phillips and Chrs Galarreta, while on the B-side they each have …

The meeting of heavyweights of electroacoustic improvisation from Europe and the Pacific United States happened during MKM trio tour in Northern America. This recording, at CalArts in 2010, yielded interesting results: a nervous displacement of noises and rich sonorous timbres. Casey Anderson, from Los Angeles, works with sound in a number of media from composition and improvisation to installations. On Five Lines he played a combination of digital and analog instruments of his own design…

Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar) and Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board) of Japan and Switzerland-based American drummer Jason Kahn are all leading musicians on the contemporary improvised music scene who perform internationally and have many album releases. The 4 pieces on this CD were performed live by Akiyama, Nakamura and Kahn at Ftarri in Suidobashi, Tokyo, during Kahn's stay in Japan in May 2014. Akiyama's softly resonating guitar makes subtle inroads into the pulsating electronic sounds cre…

music that allows sounds to sound: to die away, completely, into silence sounds thought from their end: not  moving forward, but drawing back.  this creates space, expanse, a delicate serenity: silence - and what it shelters - becomes audible.  this is singing with the ears: barely more than silence.  a singing which not only makes, but becomes space: a space for worlds.  phrases are also sounds: unfolded, laid out as a path. sound paths that come into being first when followed, invariably trail…

JF: The 24 words are the titles of the individual pieces, and they are at the same time the entire text. They are also a list that shows how the piece gets from a beginning to an end. It is, in a sense, a cycle not simply a collection of pieces - a cycle which begins, makes a journey and ends at a different place. TA: If I had to categorize this list of words, it seems to me they are addressed to quite different areas. Herzeleid (Heartbreak) for example, sounds old-fashioned, Einsamkeitsmangel …

Two fascinating pieces by Jurg Frey on this double CD, beautifully realized by Andy Lee, but fascinating for different reasons. "pianist, alone (1)" lasts for almost 90 minutes and consists of a series of discreet episodes. Will Robin's excellent notes on the site below do a far better job of describing things musicologically than I ever could, so I'll give a few other impressions. The opening chord sequence provide one of the most haunting and lovely sets of sounds I've heard in recent years. T…

"Noema is a collection of 37 short pieces composed from source material I recorded in and around Kyoto during a three-month stay there with my family in 2012. The over-arching theme of the record is the idea of exploring social space through everyday sound and especially in the case of Kyoto, not just focusing on what we've come to know the city for (temples, shrines, etc. Ð though some of these are in there as well). The pieces also deal with the idea of memory, much as the famous episode…

The label doesn't want to do notes anymore about his new releases. So we have to write some with our very good English. With these two names you can imagine that for sure the music will be closer to silence than to wall of noise. First we must say that no credit is written on the CD, like it was not important to know who is playing what and first what is played. CD1 is an instrumental piece signed by Radu Malfatti. CD2 by Jürg Frey where instruments are mixed with field recordings. It was r…

A landmark release in dp's discography and the first release on the new Schimpfluch Associates label. Dave Phillips, 1969, living and working in Zürich Switzerland, has been a purveyor of radical sound since the mid 80's as a founding member of the influential Fear of God. In 1991 he met Rudolf Eb.Er and has been part of the schimpfluch-gruppe since. working solo since 1987, dp has appeared on 150+ releases and has played around 400 concerts in 40 countries. Schimpfluch associates is a label fou…

Earle and Sussmann are best known for their minimal electronic work as Stasis Duo but this disc sees them in far more bracing mode for this all electronics trio. Recorded while Kahn was touring Australia in 2009. Matt Earle works with blank media including samplers, mixers, turntables and tapedecks. He has a solo project under the name Muura, and plays in the groups Stasis Duo and Xwave (with Adam Sussmann), xNoBBQx and Sun of the Seventh Sister. He also runs the Breakdance the Dawn record label…

Weites Land, Tiefe Zeit: Räume 1–8 is an album by Jürg Frey. It is ranked number 12,910 in the overall greatest album chart with a total rank score of 54 from 1 greatest album chart. Weites Land, Tiefe Zeit: Räume 1–8 is ranked number 430 in the best albums of 2010 and number 1,471 in the best albums of the 2010s.

Planam very proudly presents you "Die singende Sternlaterne / Folklore des Weltalls 1982" by Die Welttraumforscher. This record includes the first time LP edition of the mysterious swiss electro-dada artist's second cassette as well as previously unreleased material. Issued in conjunction with Christian Pfluger first comprehensive retrospective "Ein Sommer in der Wirklichkeit" (i.e. "A Summer in Reality") at Kunsthaus Langenthal and the corresponding monograph "Songs, Signs, Explorations" presen…

Jason Kahn : drum set, voice, metal objects, radio, mixing board, contact microphones, magnetic coil, speaker, computer, chairs, plastic bags. Recorded in Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich, Switzerland on April 14, 2013. Mixed and mastered May 2-31, 2013. Cover design Jason Kahn. Audio CD, 6 panels digipak. 'Back in 1981 I was studying at the University of London in the School of African and Asian Studies. One lecturer had us read Chinua Achebe's novel 'Things Fall Apart.' Aside from the book moving …

I've been composing graphical scores since 2004. Each score has been done for a particular group, and not just for a certain set of instruments but also for specific persons, each with their own personal sound and their own distinct approach to improvisation. The scores hover in the gray region between composition and improvisation. They create a situation where the players are free up to a point to improvise but in which they could also find themselves in juxtapositions with other player…